Card guides



Jan. 22, 1963 .1. c. KING 3,074,411

CARD GUIDE-S Filed May 6, 195'? H 22 lO 2O 22 INVENTOR..

JACK c. K1N@ lign PARKER a CARTER ATTORNEYS United States Patent Otitice 3,674,411 Patented Jan. 22, 1963 3,074,411 CARD GUIDES Jack C. King, North Muskegon, Mich., assgnor to The Shaw-Walker Company, Muskegon, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed May 6, 1957, Ser. No. 657,254 3 Claims. (Cl. 129-16.8)

This invention relates to improvements in guide or index tabs for filing partition members, such as cards or the like.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple and economical form of guide tab pocket arrangement for receiving removable and replaceable guide strips used with tiling partition members.

A further object is to provide a novel form of transparent plastic cover member especially adapted for enclosing the guide strip pocket and to facilitate the removal and replacement of guide strips in the pocket.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appears from the following description.

The invention may best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary face View of the upper portion of a partition member made in accordance with the invention, but with the guide strip removed therefrom;

FIGURE 2 is a detail section taken in line 2 2 of FIGURE 1, but showing a removable guide strip in the pocket of the tab;

FIGURE 3 is a detail section taken on line 3 3 of FIGURE 1, and showing a guide strip partially removed from one end of the tab pocket;

FIGURE 4 is a detail perspective view of a guide strip of the kind used in connection with the invention;

FIGURE 5 is a face view of a transparent plastic cover member, cut to shape, and partially bent preparatory to securing it to the guide tab;

FIGURE 6 is an end view of the cover member shown in FIGURE 5; and

FlGURE 7 is a fragmentary detail View of the upper edge of a filing card, before the plastic cover member is secured to the guide tab to complete the guide strip pocket in the latter.

Referring now to details of the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing, a partition member or card is indicated generally at 10. This card may consist of a sheet of heavy manila paper or similar material commonly employed for partition members in tiling cabinets or the like, or it may be part of a tiling folder. The partition member has a guide tab indicated generally at 11, which projects above the upper edge of the body 12 thereof. In the illustrative form shown herein, the guide tab is integral with the partition member 10, although it can be made separately and attached thereto. Said guide tab may be of any suitable length, and may be positioned at different staggered locations along the upper edges of the various partition members, as is common practice with conventional tiling systems.

The upwardly projecting portion of the guide tab 11 is cut away along a horizontal edge 13 and two upright side edges 14, 14 (see FIGURE 7) so as to form a recess between two end portion or shoulders 15, 15 of the tab.

A cover member indicated generally at 18 in FIGURES 5 and 6 is made of a sheet of semi-rigid, transparent plastic material, initially cut in generally rectangular form, and adapted to be folded along a longitudinal center line 19, with one half adapted to form the front cover piece 2d of the final pocket arrangement and the other half forming the rear cover piece 21 of the guide strip pocket arrangement. The front cover piece 20 has a pair of slots or openings 22, 22 adjacent opposite ends thereof. Each slot or opening 22 has a vertically extending outer edge 23, which preferably extends approximately the center or fold line 19, and is connected to the inner vertical edge 24 of said slot by an edge 25 angling inwardly slightly from the center or fold line 19.

The rear cover piece 21 of the cover member 1S has a pair of longitudinally extending protuberances 26 adjacent opposite ends, each of which protuberances is made by embossing or offsetting the plastic material into a permanently set, cam-like surface, which increases in height toward a terminal shoulder 27. In the illustrative form shown, the terminal shoulder is offset at a vertical slit cut in the sheet material. The shoulder 27 is disposed substantially in transverse alignment with the outer edge 23 of the adjacent opening 22 in the front cover piece 20, while the inwardly tapered portion of said embossed protuberance merges into the body of the rear cover piece 21 slightly beyond the inner edge 24 of said adjacent opening, as seen in FIGURES 3 and 5.

The opposite ends of cover member 1S are secured as by cementing to the end shoulders 15, 15 of guide tab 11, and the bottom edges of the front and rear cover pieces are similarly secured along opposite sides of the tab, beneath the cutout line 13, so as to form, in eect, an elongated pocket for receiving replaceable guide strips 30, made of paper or the like, as shown in FIGURE 4.

In the assembled relation shown in FIGURE 3, the outer terminal edges 27 of the protuberances 26 are ared toward their outer ends, and extend inwardly toward the front cover piece 2G, substantially into abutting relation with the upright inner edges 14 or the shoulders 15, in which position said protuberances facilitate the removal of a guide strip 30 by acting, in effect, as a cam surface at each end of the pocket formed between the shoulders 15 of the guide tab 11.

The use of the device described is as follows:

The guide tab is assembled as shown in FIGURE 1 to form a receiving pocket for a removable guide strip 36, which is made slightly shorter than the distance between the upright edges 14, 14 which define the length of the pocket in said tab. Any desired indicia may be printed, typewritten, or otherwise applied to the strip 30. Said strip may be inserted in the pocket by slipping it through one of the openings 22 at either end of the pocket until said strip is entirely enclosed in the latter. The partition member may then be employed in the conventional manner in a ling cabinet or the like, but when another guide strip, with different indicia thereon, is to be used on the same partition member, the rst guide strip can be readily removed from either end of the pocket by inserting the end of the new guide strip in the opposite end, so as to eject the first strip, as indicated by the arrow in FIGURE 3. It will be observed in the latter ligure that the protuberances 26 make it much easier to eject the guide strips than would be the case if the ends of the strips were in abutting relation with the upright edges 14, 14 ot' shoulders 15, 15 at either end of the pocket.

The outwardly inclined upper edges of the openings 22 extend substantially to the fold line 19 along the top edge of the pocket so as to further facilitate the withdrawal of a guide strip from the pocket.

Although -I have shown a certain embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that my invention is not limited to the specific form shown or described herein, lbut that various modifications thereof can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as detined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A guide strip pocket, comprising a one-piece member folded longitudinally to dene parallel spaced front and back walls, the front wall being transparent and slotted adjacent its ends, said slots being generally perpendicular to the longitudinal fold, ramp members integral with the back Wall extending outwardly and forwardly therefrom behind and across the slots and terminating adjacent the opposed outer boundaries of the slots and in general alignment with the inner face of the front wall.

2. A guide strip pocket, comprising a one-piece member folded longitudinally to define parallel spaced front and back walls, the front wall being transparent and slotted adjacent its ends, said slots being generally perpendicular to the longitudinal fold, ramp members integral with the back wall extending outwardly and forwardly therefrom behind and across the slots and terminating adjacent the opposed outer boundaries of the slots and in general alignment with the inner face of the front wall, the upper ends of the `slots being bounded by surfaces outwardly and upwardly inclined to the longitudinal axis of the pocket, said outwardly and upwardly inclined sur- Y ing systems having a flat body portion recessed along one edge, a one-piece folded pocket member having parallel front and back walls, masking and overlapping the member at the ends and the side of the recess, the front wall being transparent and slotted immediately adjacent the opposite ends of the recess, said slots being generally perpendicular to the fold, ramp members integral with the back wall extending outwardly and forwardly there from beneath and across the slots and terminating adjacent the outer boundaries of the recess and in general alignment with the front face of the partition member.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 214,770 Gathfight Apr. 29, 1879 536,386 Mins Mar. 26, 1895 1,460,761 Marike et ai July 3, 1923 1,685,456 Kock sept. 25, 192s 

1. A GUIDE STRIP POCKET, COMPRISING A ONE-PIECE MEMBER FOLDED LONGITUDINALLY TO DEFINE PARALLEL SPACED FRONT AND BACK WALLS, THE FRONT WALL BEING TRANSPARENT AND SLOTTED ADJACENT ITS ENDS, SAID SLOT BEING GENERALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE LONGITUDINAL FOLD, RAMP MEMBERS INTEGRAL WITH THE BACK WALL EXTENDING OUTWARDLY AND FORWARDLY THEREFROM BEHIND AND ACROSS THE SLOT AND TERMINATING ADJACENT THE OPPOSED OUTER BOUNDARIES OF THE SLOTS AND IN GENERAL ALIGNMENT WITH THE INNER FACE OF THE FRONT WALL. 